The present invention constitutes an improvement over the apparatus described and shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,321 issued Dec. 11, 1973 to Joseph L. Abbott. While this patent taught the manufacture of a collapsible container from a thin flat sheet of material such as a lamination of metal and plastic it was not capable of achieving the production speeds necessary to make it competitive with other known collapsible container manufacturing apparatus.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a machine for forming a collapsible container from a strip of material at a higher production rate than prior art devices.
Another object of the present invention is to improve the speed of manufacture and fluid tight integrity of the container body.
A further object of the present invention is to more positively control the formation of the neck and shoulder portion of the container and thereby increase the productivity of the machine.
A feature of the present invention is its in-line tubular body forming and sealing mechanism.
Another feature of the present invention in its preheating station where the end of the tubular body is softened prior to further forming.
A further feature of the present invention is its positive yet rapid fluting of the end of the tubular body to assure uniformity of production.
Still another feature of the present invention is its rapid outsert loading mechanism.